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Celebrity overbooked in Japan Oct 2023 cruise


neil

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Over a thousand people were canceled by celebrity on Oct 2023 Southern Japan trip.  That is half the people of the cruise passengers.   Most the passengers booked one year ago and Celebrity say it is overbooked.  We certainly have lot of unhappy customers.   The option one offer a fix time with different iterary next year.  Many people already purchased the air tickets which is more than the 500 dollars offer as compensation upon approval.   Many customers loss time and money on this trip due to Celebrity problems.   Many loss confidence with Celebrity for future cruise.  

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@neil This is not a good look for Celebrity Cruises. Since this itinerary was such an amazing one, it's really hard to make up for this lost itinerary! I didn't realize that over 1,000 cruise passengers received the cancellation email. That's a large group of upset passengers! This oversold Celebrity Millenium cruise was to depart from Tokyo and the flights to the area aren't notoriously cheap. I agree several guests are going to lose faith in the cruise line, but mistakes do happen. Royal Caribbean recently oversold Wonder of the Seas for a spring break itinerary, and since this is the world's largest ship and a popular time of year, it was really hard to match. Many Royal Caribbean guests were pretty frustrated by this overbooking. 

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@neil Were you included in this group of over-booked cruise guests? If so, what do you think you will end up doing instead of cruising on this Japan itinerary? I noticed that Celebrity Millenium has a few different "Best of Japan" itinerary options around the same time frame that could offer a similar cruise experience! The most difficult part is likely changing flights and rearranging your potentially accounted-for schedule.

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On 4/20/2023 at 6:15 PM, neil said:

Over a thousand people were canceled by celebrity on Oct 2023 Southern Japan trip.  That is half the people of the cruise passengers.   Most the passengers booked one year ago and Celebrity say it is overbooked.  We certainly have lot of unhappy customers.   The option one offer a fix time with different iterary next year.  Many people already purchased the air tickets which is more than the 500 dollars offer as compensation upon approval.   Many customers loss time and money on this trip due to Celebrity problems.   Many loss confidence with Celebrity for future cruise.  

Where did you read that 1000 people were affected on this cruise thanks? In fact, 9 Millennium cruises, 8 in Japan and 1 from Singapore, from September 2023 to April 2024 are affected.

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How is it even possible to make such a large number of overbooked guests? Did the system crash and wipe out previous bookings etc. I can understand if there were a few due to glitches maybe, but the number is far too big for that I would have thought 

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@Andrea Illescas I truly hope this doesn't happen again in April! I'm very saddened to hear you were affected by this overselling. I was hopeful that there weren't so many cruise guests affected by this mishap but clearly, that was wishful thinking! I agree with PaulB that this was a very large glitch, it certainly wasn't minor. This itinerary is really amazing so it's really frustrating due to the lack of alternatives on the market. Princess Cruises does offer some Japanese itineraries that could be an option for guests willing to explore something different. https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/asia-cruises/japan/ 

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Celebrity Millennium April 9, 2024 was also overbooked. We had 2 balcony cabins that were cancelled but our interior room was not.  Trying to Lift and Shift all 3 cabins to April 2025 but it's looking sold out too.  Maybe they are just hiding the rooms online until they can fit in the cancelled customers.

We booked for April 2024 in March of 2022.

Edited by April
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@April I wonder if the majority of the rooms that ended up overbooked were balcony staterooms. Based on this, that is almost what it sounds like. It is possible that the Celebrity Millennium April 2025 itinerary is showing full due to the shifting of guests from the April 9, 2024 itinerary. Are there any other dates and itineraries that could match up? In due time the "sold out" message will likely be removed once the canceled guests respond to Celebrity Cruises with their desired outcome post-cancellation email. I hope you are able to get the staterooms you are looking for on another Celebrity Millennium itinerary! It's particularly difficult when you are cruising with a larger group with differing preferences. Have you called the cruise line and asked about the potential to shift to April 2025? 

Edited by Kendall James-Vargas
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Solstice was the ship due to due the Japan season in 2022 and a lot of people lifted and shifted to 2023 due to Japan's restrictions then, however Millennium is doing the Japan season in 2023. Millennium carries quite a few less passengers than Solstice. Celebrity's systems allowed overbooking for a period which has resulted in some cabins being double booked. 

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@CarolynAustralia This is a very understandable reasoning behind what happened with these overbookings. It's still very frustrating that this overbooking occurred. This Celebrity Millennium's Japan itinerary is truly an amazing one, so I understand why so many canceled guests are so frustrated. It's a hard-to-beat itinerary on a pretty great ship! Have you cruised on an itinerary like this in the past?

 

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@Andrea Illescas & @April & @CarolynAustralia Although this Celebrity Cruises overbooking is such a buzz kill, I just noticed that Princess Cruises is offering a great deal for some Diamond Princess itineraries cruising in Japan. If you are cruising in a group, this promotion offers free third and fourth guests. I recommend exploring these itineraries if you are looking for a similar cruise itinerary, on a great ship, for a good rate! 

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There is an awful lot of oversold sailings lately from the cruise lines. I don't understand how this is possible so frequently. Surely it can't always be computer issues, if so then maybe they should get rid and start again. Not very good is it

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Guess what? Royal Caribbean Line just did it again, overselling yet another itinerary just a few days before embarking! What a shame. This keeps happening over and over again! I don't understand why the cruise lines can't get it right. Unless of course, this is a strategy. This same ship, Allure of the Seas, happened to be overbooked for another itinerary that cruised last week. RCL needs to figure this out.

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I don't think there is a truly reasonable explanation for this issue to continue happening over and over again. Happening once or twice until it's figured out, I understand, but continuously like this is just unreasonable. I agree that Royal Caribbean should come up with some sort of public explanation because clearly even those unaffected are starting to take notice. For a pretty popular cruise line, these reoccurring mistakes shouldn't continue with this sort of frequency. 

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On 5/9/2023 at 2:01 PM, PaulB said:

They will be losing an awful lot of customers if they keep going. Someone needs to save it with clever PR

Maybe some free Bud Light on every cruise will bring them back...

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@FJB This is great comic relief! I think that angle would definitely attract the RCL fan club. Bud Light has had some serious backlash lately. I'm not sure if you have been following any of the negative publicity lately but apparently, all of this beer backlash will likely be affecting suppliers. I'm sure this popular brewing company will find its way back into the spotlight in a more positive way. Sometimes making a bold PR move is very successful and other times not so much. I'm hopeful Bud Light lovers will move on from this.

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